The Social Media

Past few years have seen a surge in the way we communicate and socialize - all so because of one of the powerful medium - the internet.
We capitalize so much on social networking sites such as facebook, orkut, myspace, blogspot etc. these days that life seems to be incomplete without them. Then there is professional networking through linkedIn and there is twitter for fast dispersal of information in less than 170 characters. All these things have completely changed our lives and styles over the past few years. I see facebook as the biggest human database storing lot of information than any other database. One can simply open a page and judge the behavioral patterns of people. Now a days recruiters rely more on social networking media to judge the candidates attitude, weaknesses and  characters to some extent. A lot of other information is provided by google itself.
As a facebook user myself, I have seen, there is a paradigm shift in "keeping in touch" with our family and friends. I have some 105 facebook friends, out of which most of them are colleagues or ex-colleagues. Then there are family, friends, class mates, people from office with whom I never worked before or old friends. Everyday, this has become a rule for me to get up and see the facebook page for updates. I can now categorize the people I know into 7 distinct categories:
1. Casual users
2. Attention seekers
3. Eager to know what others think about me
4. Want to voice their opinion on things like science, politics etc.
5. I don't care about you but you have to care about me.
6. Recluse.
7. Real social networking users.

The first category is the casual users who post photos, videos not so often and sometimes come to browse the site and occasionally post messages and write on somebody's wall or respond to somebodys comment. This category usually has the busiest people who hardly get time to browse.
The second category is that of the attention seekers who consider facebook as seventh heaven for them. Because they can reach a number of people all the time and want people to say something about them or respond. This category has people who don't go by a certain trend rather they change it according to people's response. The third is the one who likes to post beautiful pictures and photographs of themselves or their families eager to know what others may be thinking about them. Then the fourth is the category who often like to share intellectual information through the site. They post a link on an article/paper etc., voice their political opinion and disseminate knowledge. This is the intellectual category. Then the fifth is the one who always post their information, but barely reads what others have to say. They are only concerned about themselves. The Recluse are the category that worries about their privacy. They don't want to share any information because they believe, it will be an invasion into their privacy. In my opinion they should not be there in facebook at all. As the rationale behind creating facebook was to share information. The creators think, you should not be doing something that you need to hide from people in the first place... Now the last category is the real responsible users who know the true meaning of social networking. They don't over indulge in anything or are obsessed with attention. They genuinely post messages that they want people should know. And at the same time, they also read others information and react when needed. Not you didn't react to my post, so I won't react to yours type.
Now today this much for the social networking... Have a happy Saturday.

The almighty Electricity!

Today around 12 PM, I realized, I can’t check my office email. Then thought may be our mail server is down; then I checked other web sites, and all seem to be offline. Then realized internet is down. Then  I was wondering why internet is off, let me try and trouble shoot. Went near the server and saw power is off, so the cause is a power outage.  Hmm…  I am thinking hard on how to spend time fun way when power is down. May be call one of my friends, but how?  there is no internet and I need VOIP for a phone call. Obviously I can’t work, so suddenly some long pending work came to mind i.e; going to the bank. Then happily I got ready thought I will run some errands also that was long pending. Then tried to open the garage door, it wouldn’t open…  cause it is electricity operated.  Now, going out is out of question, so what else can I do? I checked there is food in the fridge, but I can’t eat it because I can’t heat the food.  Oh, well I thought to myself, let me do a facial that is pending for a long time. I opened the kit and realized I need hot water and I can’t heat water without electricity. Still thinking what can be done when there is a power outage. Can I go out to walk? No, it is too hot. Middle of the day I can’t do yoga or meditation also, so kind of running out of ideas how to utilize my time. May be play chess with my laptop, but hey laptop needs to be charged in half an hour. So, what else? It is summer, we don’t need AC but lot of people do, I am just wondering how miserable they must be. Will they sustain Texas heat without AC? It makes me introspect how dependent we are on electricity. How people used to survive when there was no electricity? Hard to imagine.  In our village in Orissa, there was no power for one month and people were operating as usual. Now hats offto them those who are not slaves of this inanimate object!!

Evolution of faith...

Today  I am prompted to think what is my religious status? Do I believe in god? Do I fear god? Do I need god for my existence? Which category do I belong to?
I am born  a hindu, believed in hindu rituals, prayed idols especially Ganesha as a child to give me vidya(good education). I used to pray a lot when I was small, and still pray when I am in trouble, now then why this doubt about god suddenly? As I grew up, my constant demand to god about a myriad of things does not get fulfilled. Then I am mad at god and think does god really exist? Isn't it silly to pray someone that does not exist? Instead why not to rely on our own abilities?
Well, we all go through this dilemma sometimes in our lifetime. While growing up, it was certainly essential for us to believe in god, because it was very fancy to have someone by your side as your savior all the time plus it did not harm us in believing in someone by our side.  Every time we needed something we believed praying god will fulfill that. I as a child used to pray god primarily for that purpose. I could not have imagined life otherwise. For example, I clearly remember one incident when I lost some story books I borrowed from a friend. One day she asked those books back. I came back home worried, searched everywhere but did not find it. Now what to do? If I tell mom, I will be screwed, if I tell the friend, it is going to be ugly. So, all that I could do is pray... Took off one day from school to avoid that friend of mine, and the next day, don't know how exactly I found those books, but I did. When I found the books, I did not think god has returned those books to me, rather it appeared silly that instead of looking for the books at that particular place, I prayed. But, this types of thing kept repeating throughout my life several times to say the least. Sometimes, it works out, and sometimes it does not. Now the big question is if there is really a god, who listens to us and fulfills our demands? Well, as a believer of Karma, I do certainly believe; as a you sow, so you reap. If you don't work hard, then how much ever you pray, it does not work out. Then, why do we waste our time by praying? Instead why don't we just work. But, are we strong enough to just rely on our work? Certainly, there are a large number of people who pull through life without relying on god. They work through their problems, without playing a blame game on god, or doing lots of rituals for getting something in life and just meaninglessly praying for it. But, there may be third case scenario, where you do everything possible and it is no longer in your control. Now you desire a certain outcome, then what should you do? Just accept whatever is happening or be positive/optimistic for a certain outcome? I think this is the time when prayer helps. Whether you get your desirable outcome is not the question, but if you think there is someone out there on whom you can rely or just pass on the responsibility, then that certainly gives you a lot of strength. I consider that is what is very important aspect of having a god by your side. Here I will give a simple example that happened to me recently. I was driving from Blacksburg, VA to Charlotte. My flight to DFW was about at 6.30 PM from Charlotte Douglas airport. I calculated about 3 hours drive time, so decided to start at 1.30 PM from Blacksburg. As I reached the vehicle, I realized that I had left the car key inside the car and locked it. Now, that was a rental car, and the car was rented at Charlotte. What am I suppose to do? Rent another car, leave this car here and drive straight or call somebody to open the car and fetch the key? Right at that moment, I saw an unfamiliar female passing by. Out of desperation I said her what had happened to the key. Then she promptly suggested to call Virginia Tech police, who come and rescue the key for free. I was happy, went to the receptionist and made a call to the VT police, and they said they will be right there. Relieved, I waited outside. After about 30 minutes one retired guy came with injured fingers. He tried a lot, but could not get past the door. Another 20 minutes passed. Now worried about my timings, I was getting impatient. Then he called for another guy, and finally they could get the key out. It was almost 2.30 PM. Now I had 2 and half hours to drive to the airport, return the car, take the shuttle and reach the airport. I thought, that is quite doable, so I set for driving. It was winter and I drove OK till the car rental place just about on time (5 PM). But by the time,  it was already dark and in the dark, I can't see that well. On the top of it I am directionally challenged. Once I was there, I realized I did not fill the tank. Unless you fill the tank, you get to give 3-4 times the fuel price, and that was something I was not willing to. Then I asked someone about where to fill the tank, they showed me some routes out of the ramp. Being very poor in direction, I was not certain whether I will be able to find the place. Anyways, I started for it and as expected lost my way. It was night, late and in a new city without direction, I was in some new highway. That was the time, I prayed and prayed desperately. I pleaded god to forgive me for being mean earlier, for not believing his presence. And in the winter, I was sweating for the first time. Then I got courage to comeback on that highway and coolly looked for a gas station and filled the tank. Now the next herculean task is to find my way back to the rental car place. Whoever I asked, the directions did not work. I was still praying desperately asking god to forgive me for all my misdeeds etc. Then I took an unconventional route and there you go, I saw my rental car drive. My god, I was so relieved. I gave all the credits to god for taking me to the airport just about at 6 PM. It was high drama for one hour. After that I am now thinking should I denounce the presence of god because some of my prayers are not answered? May be what I am asking for is not good for me or may be I don't deserve it yet. Now, at this cross road of my faith, I am more inclined to believe that there is something that gives you strength/power when you need most. I am not strong enough to pass through the storm all by myself. I need someone, or at least to pretend there is someone out there to help. With this, now I am inclined towards changing my facebook status to agnostic from atheist.

Healthy Spinach Pakodas...

Today I came up with a great idea of making delicious healthy spinach pakoda like edibles - I would like to call as 'pakodala'. Why so? As a biologist, we term anything similar to something as 'like' and hence pakoda like becomes 'pakodala'. Anyways, lets get to the preparation of the pakodalas.

If you are too concious about your health and at the same savor pakodas and know that you need to eat more spinaches but can't do that because of the yucky taste, this recipe is for you.

Ingredients: 1 cup of gram flour, 1 bunch of spinach, 3-4 tea spoon oil, salt, chilli powder
Cooking time: 4-5 minutes

Procedure:
Add 1/2 cup water into 1 cup of gram flour(besan). If it gets thicker then add little more water, so as you can make a smear if you dip anything into it. Then add salt to you taste and also little chilli powder if you like. Wash a bunch of spinach thoroughly and stack approximately 8-10 leaves one above the other. Pour little bit of oil in a pan and heat it up (depending on the size of the pan, make sure the level of oil is not more than 0.5 cms. Dip the spinach stack(8-10) at a time into the gram flour so that there is a film of gram flour on both the sides of the stack(Now the stack is externally bound by gram flour mix). Then put the stack on the oil. You can cook 5-6 stacks at a time in a pan depending on the size of the pan. Let the bottom side get cooked then carefully turn it over. Now you have hot delicious spinach pakodalas for snacks. Enjoy eating. Pictures are coming....

Mandatory CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)??!!

India has seen a surge in number of millionaires; if not billionaires. But yes, both the classes are on a rise. Now, how many of them are really involved in any kind of philanthropic activitivity? I would say almost NONE. Except for TATAs and Infosys and to some extent Wipros, none of Indians super-rich are in favor of giving away the hard earned money. So, what are they going to do with the money after all? Since everybody only lasts for a certain number of years and after that no one knows what happens to them. With body gone, who knows if the soul exists. Even if it does, and it has a re-incarnation, no one remembers anything about the past life. So, what is the use of leaving lots of wealth for your children to sit and enjoy and reap the benefits of your hard work?? So, all that super rich could do is invest good amounts in inculcating values/education into their children and leave everything else back to the society...
This is exactly what Bill Gates and Warren Buffets are now here in India for... Although received with luke warm response, people are generally against CSR ( corportae social responsibility)... I hope some of the richest are convinced to give away their wealth after they pass. Melinda Gates is pretty upbeat about this saying most of the self made wealthy are more willing to give away than the dynastic wealthy. Lets see... I guess, it is a tradition and a culture that stops people from giving away. The tradition of feeling insecure. Well, this is completely my perception. I personally feel that people should give most of the wealth they generated through their life time. The benefits could be immeasurable. The first foreseable positive change I can think of is fall in real estate prices. Second, people will learn to respect work and will not worship the rich. That will bring about a huge socio-cultural positive change that is so much required.
My perception is; wealthy should invariably spend on infrastructure that is so much the need of the hour for our country. Personally, I feel Indian citizens have food, clothes but there is a serious need for housing projects in urban areas, since India is seeing a complete demographic shift now - from villages to cities. Another area to look upon may be safe sanitation and renewable energy sources and good transportation means. This is what I dream for India if Indian need to stand up...  

Lamarckism does not hold true in caste system too...

Often times in Indian newspaper and elsewhere there is a frequent mention of caste system in India. As obnoxious as it gets with time, I would like to argue in favor of it for a change!

Well read on:

They say: Casteism is common in India and people are discriminated for their caste.
I say: Which society does not have caste? Go to any developed/semi-developed/under-developed society, people are usually classified on the basis of their wealth, culture, education etc. Humans as social animals can't simply live without it!! Having said that, I am not saying caste related discrimination should be there. Now as I was raised in a small town, I did not see anyone "discriminating" against anyone on the basis of their caste. May be in the villages it is still the practise, but it is vanishing slowly and for good...

They say: Hindus alone practice caste.
I say: Completely wrong!! The other day I was speaking with one of my Japanese colleagues and he said, during matrimony, people from Japan do hire private detectives to find about the "Caste" of the prospective bride/groom. Even, in christian, Muslim and Sikh societies there is a prevalent caste system. You will find Christan churches having segments such as African American churches, chinese churches, Vietnamese churches so on and so forth. In predominantly muslim societies like Pakistan, they still have caste based classification. So why blame hindus alone...

They say: Caste divides society.
I say: Without caste also there will be always a division in society.

Now following are my arguments in favor of casteism:

During marriages, people frequently see caste and I see no problem with that. Reason - Marriage unites two different families. If both families practice different social rules, then one of the families has to adopt the culture of the other family else, there will be a disaster. I am not kidding... From my own experience, I have seen this plenty of times. In our house, both my husband and I belong to the same caste and our native places are just few miles from each other. But I still feel we have so much difference in our food habbits, in our culture in dealing with guests in conducting social celebrations like marriage etc. We often criticize each other for the practices we follow. Just imagine what would happen if we belong to completely different worlds. It may be fine initially, and it may be fine if one completely accepts the other's culture, but imagine, if that is not the case... If both bride and groom belong to the same caste, then most likely they have same customs, traditions to follow and hence less of conflict and a smooth sailing.

People tend to adopt the profession of their forefathers(Basically that is what gave rise to caste system in the first place). There is a lot of advantage to it. For example, if a child sees his parents following a particular profession throughout their childhood, then they tend to learn it better. For example, in Indian context, lets talk about politics or acting. How many of our present day politicians or actors are from non-political or acting families? Very few... Those who join in and become successful actors or politicians can be safely considered a case of "joining a new caste". After all this is what the Vedas say about the caste. We only mis-interpret things.

In a plural society, there has to be some kind of distinction and we as humans are hard wired to live that way. So, no amount of government pressure can subjugate it - lets accept this as a fact. Now, reservation in the name of caste is completely wrong from the perspective that, we are making it easy for people who need to really struggle to get into the position they so want to be in. This is something like reserving seats for people from non-political families in elections or giving acting job to non-actor families. It simply makes no sense. With this, I say YES to caste system and at the same time, I believe Caste should be an acquired character not inherited one. In other words, caste as an acquired character should not be passed on to the future generation rather should be left as one of the choices for the offspring to decide, whether he/she is comfortable in identifying himself/herself with the parental caste...

Scientific warfare!!

As amused I was at the Asilomar conference to say the least; reason - scientific warfare! Well, there is this group X that says phospholipids do bind certain motif of effector proteins that aids in effective translocation into the host cells. This seems to be a big deal since, according to group X, without it, there will be no cell entry of effectors and hence no disease. Phospholipids are predominant on the surface of any living cell. If this were true(I am certain it is!!), then this may lead to major drug discoveries in targeting this molecule alone in preventing infectious diseases. However, this story does not end here. Group X with a young grad student as the first author publishes this in one of the most prestigious journals available in biological sciences. Now this does not go well with group A....W,Y,Z - you know why. Now they are trying to repeat this experiment and the experiment that was published by group X seem to be un-repeatable. So, this is where war begins. Now all other groups are constantly pulling group X on the validity of the published results. Some even threaten retraction of paper(?!!). I am not certain , but I am watching all these through twitter war of words. I am not directly involved with this, but I am a part of group X and reputation of group X is important to me. So, lets see where and how this controversy dies...